Problem

Source: Dutch TST 2024, 1.3

Tags: combinatorics, combinatorics proposed, game, winning strategy, binary representation



Player Zero and Player One play a game on a $n \times n$ board ($n \ge 1$). The columns of this $n \times n$ board are numbered $1,2,4,\dots,2^{n-1}$. Turn my turn, the players put their own number in one of the free cells (thus Player Zero puts a $0$ and Player One puts a $1$). Player Zero begins. When the board is filled, the game ends and each row yields a (reverse binary) number obtained by adding the values of the columns with a $1$ in that row. For instance, when $n=4$, a row with $0101$ yields the number $0 \cdot1+1 \cdot 2+0 \cdot 4+1 \cdot 8=10$. a) For which natural numbers $n$ can Player One always ensure that at least one of the row numbers is divisible by $4$? b) For which natural numbers $n$ can Player One always ensure that at least one of the row numbers is divisible by $3$?